Three
by autumn midnights
Summary: Sometimes, two is better than one. And sometimes, three is better than two. Femslash. Astoria/Romilda/Demelza, in different ways. Unrelated drabbles.
1. friends

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Author's Note: For the 2012 Hogwarts Games, pole vault event. The drabble is 502 words according to wordcounttool, although FFN's word count is messed up (plus the A/N obviously doesn't count).

Warning: The pairing is Astoria/Romilda/Demelza, although it's one-sided and nothing actually happens.

* * *

Astoria hesitates before the door, tempted to go somewhere else. She knows that this would be the best place, however, even though she's sure her little crush on Romilda hasn't completely disappeared yet. She reaches a hand up and knocks, and the door opens quickly. A familiar face, framed by curly black hair, peeks out at her.

"Astoria!" The girl's face lights up. "Come on in! How've you been?"

Astoria takes a deep breath. "Daphne kicked me out," she says. "Theo's moving into her apartment, and she doesn't want me around. Mainly because I know they're going to be shagging on every available surface and they don't want me to interrupt." She makes a face, and the girl - Romilda - tuts sympathetically.

"You can stay here as long as you need to," Romilda replies. "Demi's staying here as well. The three of us, back together again - Merlin, I haven't seen you in forever." She pulls the door all the way open, allowing the Greengrass girl to slip inside, dragging her trunk. "I still remember you, at the Final Battle, dressed in Muggle clothes because you didn't want people to see your Slytherin clothes and assume you were fighting against them."

As the door shuts behind them, Astoria manages a smile. "And I still remember you and Demelza accidentally running into me, and then the pair of you telling me that I'd be killed if I didn't stick with you two. Then, in our last two years at Hogwarts, the three of us did some pretty crazy things. Like, for instance, the time that Demelza decided it would be a good idea to turn Professor McGonagall's classroom pink."

"Did somebody say my name?" Demelza pokes her head around a doorway, a slight smirk appearing on her pretty face. "That idea was brilliant, though..." She lets the sentence trail off, obviously reminiscing about the whole situation. "So good to see you, Astoria! We haven't gotten together very much after Hogwarts."

"I've noticed that, too," Romilda says. "We have to share a room," she continues, changing the subject "It's a one-bedroom flat. But the bed is absolutely enormous, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem."

"It's only enormous because you enlarged it," Demelza replies, rolling her eyes, although a smile plays on her lips. "I'm pretty sure that it's as big as my childhood bedroom."

"I've seen your bedroom," Romilda says, "and I'm pretty sure that my closet is bigger than that."

Astoria smiles at that, but her heart skips a beat. Sharing a bed with Romilda, the object of her affections, and Demelza, who's become a beautiful young woman? Could there be anything more tempting?

Demelza sighs, interrupting Astoria's thoughts. "I love that we're friends," she says happily, throwing her arms around both Astoria and Romilda.

"Me too," Astoria mumbles, although she can't help but wish the three of them were more than friends, that their relationship was more than platonic.

She pushes those thoughts away. That could never happen.


	2. believe

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

_Author's Note: For the second round of the Pole Vault round of the 2012 Hogwarts Games. Astoria/Romilda/Demelza. Not related to the previous drabble; these are going to be unrelated from one another, although they may contain similar themes. _

_Although FFN has this as being more (partially because of this note and disclaimer) the drabble itself is really 694 according to Word Count Tool._

* * *

If somebody had entered the Gryffindor seventh year girls' dormitory that night, it would have appeared to be empty. Four of the five beds were obviously uninhabited, and the fifth one had the canopies drawn around it so that nobody could see inside. Occasionally they rustled, but as they made no noise, a person coming in would have assumed it was just wind from the half-open window.

That fifth bed was Romilda Vane's. It was rather easy to tell, as the wall next to it was completely plastered with pictures, both magical and Muggle, and almost all of them had Romilda herself in them. She was usually accompanied by other people, however - her closest friends. There were some pictures from Dumbledore's Army the year that the Carrows had been at Hogwarts, for although Colin hadn't been there to take pictures, she had done so herself in order to keep memories of them.

A majority of the pictures, though, was Romilda along with another Gryffindor girl, Demelza Robins. The two of them were in the same year - in fact, one of the unoccupied beds in the Gryffindor seventh year girls' room was hers. They had always been close, which is why it had felt so completely natural when they eventually took another step and started going out together.

In some of the pictures, a third seventh year popped up, usually wearing a Slytherin tie. That was the third member of their group, Astoria Greengrass, and although she was in a different house, it didn't matter to them. She wasn't like the majority of Slytherins; she had hated the Carrows, had fought back against them in her own way, and had even snuck back to the Battle of Hogwarts despite being underage. That was, in fact, how she had become friends with Romilda and Demelza, who had also snuck back in.

At that moment, it was Romilda and Demelza who had taken up Romilda's bed. Because of the large amount of silencing charms placed on it, it would have been all right if the other girls had still been in there. It was, in fact, pure coincidence that they weren't. One of them had been called home for a funeral, one of them was sleeping with her boyfriend, and the third was staying up all night to finish an essay. They were alone.

Demelza rested her head on Romilda's shoulder. It was relatively late - past midnight, that is - and the two of them probably should have been getting some sleep. When they were together, though, sleep wasn't a priority. That didn't stop Demelza from being tired, however, even as she looked past Romilda at the collage of pictures on the wall.

"I like that one," she murmured, pointing at a rather recent one. It had been taken a few months ago, when Astoria had accompanied the two of them to Hogsmeade. They had their arms around one another, and were laughing over something Romilda had said. Astoria had managed to convince a third year to take their picture, and although the angle was slightly off, the picture still captured their close relationship.

"Me too," Romilda answered, sounding slightly more awake.

Demelza's eyes flicked from picture to picture, finally stopping on an old one of just the two girls, taken in their fifth year. "Can you believe it's been nearly two years since the Battle of Hogwarts?" She propped herself up on her elbow. "Seems like it's been longer than that."

"I know." Romilda nodded and propped herself up as well. "Hell, I can't believe we're graduating from Hogwarts in just two months. We'll have to get a flat together or something. Maybe Astoria could move in with us, I don't think she has anyplace to go either."

Demelza blushed. "What would she do when we, um, slept together?"

"She could join in." Romilda laughed at the embarrassed, horrified look on Demelza's face. Romilda had always been the bold one. "Just kidding, just kidding. Unless, of course, you're tempted?"

Her face remained a fiery red. "I can't believe we're having this conversation!"

Romilda couldn't help but smirk at the other girl. "I can."


	3. together

_Author's Note: For the third round of Pole Vault, 2012 Hogwarts Games, on the HPFC forum. According to wordcounttool, this is 1000 words exactly._

* * *

Demelza idly twisted a strand of light brown hair around her finger, leaning back and propping her feet against Romilda's leg. Both girls had things that they needed to do - Romilda was supposed to be looking at a case file for her job as an Auror, and Demelza should have been practicing Quidditch in the backyard since her tryout was in a couple days. Those things were presently being ignored in favor of just relaxing together on the couch, waiting for the third member of their group to return home.

"It's been four hours," Romilda said a couple of minutes later, looking worried as she swung her legs to the floor. "I thought she was just visiting her family."

"I thought so too," Demelza replied, glancing towards the door as if Astoria would walk through it at that second. "I hope she's all right. She said that she was going to tell her family about...us." She waved a hand towards the two of them, as though that could explain the romantic relationship between the three girls. It had started almost as soon as they had moved in together, and had surprisingly managed to last. Almost nobody knew about it, as such a thing was not common in either the Muggle or the Wizarding worlds, and they didn't fancy the idea of having to tell people.

"She was?" Romilda yelped. "But her family - you know how they are, they're all prissy and uptight - why the hell would she do that?"

"Sick of keeping secrets, I guess," Demelza replied, her gaze shifting to the door again. "I'm sure they were wondering why she wasn't dating anybody. After all, she's twenty, and you know how purebloods get married early."

"True," Romilda said, sighing. "Well, I suppose half of Wizarding Britain will know now. Mrs. Greengrass can be a bit of a gossip."

"A bit?" Demelza joked, and was about to expand on that when the door opened and Astoria stumbled in.

It was obvious that she had been crying; her eyes were red and puffy. She collapsed on the couch between the other two, shaking slightly. "Are you all right?" Romilda asked hurriedly, her eyes sweeping over the other girl's body for any sign of physical damage. "Did they hurt you?" she demanded before Astoria even got a chance to respond.

"They didn't hurt me, no," Astoria answered, her voice trembling slightly. "I told them about the three of us. We've been hiding it for two years, and I'm sick of Mum, Dad, and Daphne pestering me about when I'm going to find a nice pureblood boyfriend and settle down. I wanted to explain to them - I thought it would be a good thing. But..." She took a deep breath. "They've arranged for my marriage."

Romilda's hand twitched toward her wand, as if she was going to Apparate out of their house and curse Mrs. Greengrass that very second. Demelza wouldn't have been incredibly surprised if she had. "That's absolutely absurd!" the dark-haired girl hissed, putting a comforting hand on Astoria's shoulder. "I won't let them, love, you don't have to worry."

"They can't arrange your marriage," Demelza said quietly. "It's the twenty-first century, for Merlin's sake."

"You know purebloods," Romilda muttered darkly, "they aren't very modern." It would have been funny if it weren't for the gravity of the situation, since Romilda herself was pureblood, but in this instance all three of them were completely serious. "Look, you don't have to go through with it, it's not like they can hunt you down and force you -"

"Yes, they could," Astoria corrected. "There's absolutely no way that they're going to let me get out of it. They were so forceful when they brought it up, Romilda. I half-expected them to threaten me with an Unforgivable if I didn't do what they said. I don't know what to do - Merlin, they've got connections everywhere, they could find me no matter where I go, and I don't want to lose you but I don't want to live life on the run either..." Her chin trembled, and it looked as though she was going to start crying again.

"Who's the groom?" asked Demelza, still twisting a strand of hair around her finger. It was her nervous habit, and this was certainly a nerve-wracking situation. "Is it somebody decent?"

Astoria's voice was barely a whisper as she replied, "Draco Malfoy. I don't want to marry him, I've barely even met him! I don't know him, and I certainly don't love him. I love you two."

"We love you too," Romilda replied automatically. "Look, we'll get you out of this, I promise. I'm a bloody Auror, I'll have a constant guard on you if I have to. Nobody's going to force you to marry Malfoy on my watch, that's for sure." She looked fierce in a way that Demelza hadn't seen for years.

"Would you honestly be able to do that?" Demelza wrinkled her forehead. "Just put guards on people? I mean, you just finished Auror training two months ago."

"I can explain the situation," Romilda said. "I'm sure they'll understand - you can't be the first pureblood girl who wants to escape from an arranged marriage. Besides, I've made several friends in there, and I'm sure we could all work something out if we had to. It'd only have to be while I'm away, after all - I'd be your guard while I'm at home."

"You'd actually do that for me?" Astoria had been looking at her lap, but she looked up as Romilda finished speaking. "You'd go through the trouble of putting a guard on me in case my parents try to come after me?"

"Of course I would!" Romilda replied, rolling her eyes and pulling first Astoria, then Demelza, close to her. "I don't want you to marry Malfoy any more than you do. I love you, both of you. We'll stay together as long as we can."


	4. fight

_For the As Strong As We Are United Competition and One-shot a Day Competition. _

* * *

Most people would not have expected to see Astoria Greengrass fighting at the Battle of Hogwarts. After all, she was a Slytherin, and she kept her head down. She never got into trouble, never spoke up, and never did anything that year to show her true loyalties. It was obvious that she wasn't as happy with the Carrows as some of the Slytherins, since she never outwardly praised them, but she never outwardly insulted them, either.

All the Slytherins were ushered out, and most of them stayed out. But Astoria Greengrass returned to fight.

Almost instantly, she ran into Romilda Vane and Demelza Robins, two fellow fifth-years. Both of them were also too young to be there, but they too had apparently returned. Romilda raised her eyebrows at Astoria, shot a glance at Demelza, and then said, "Are you fighting against the Death Eaters?"

"Absolutely," Astoria responded. She paused for a second, and then took off her Slytherin tie, tossing it against the wall. "I'm on your side."

"Good," Romilda said. "We need everyone we can get. And you should stay with us - you'd never be able to make it on your own. Neither would we." She gestured for Astoria to come join them, and Astoria slowly walked over, taking her place beside Demelza. "Come on, Greengrass," Romilda said, a wicked smile splitting her face. "Let's go kick some Death Eater arse."


End file.
